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The Faroese Viking Heavy Metallers are back with a vengeance with their fourth release on the famed Napalm Records. Anyone who has any degree of knowledge relative to Heavy Metal will recognize Tyr's distinctive sound, blending catchy sing-along choruses, folk elements with blistering fist pumping Viking Metal. After straying a bit too far into the progressive arena for my liking with their previous output, By The Light Of The Northern Star displays a much more straightforward approach, much in the vein of Eric The Red, but the epic feel of the music remains very much intact. Technically, the songs have a more melodic feel than in the past, however the most notable aspects of the album are the added crunch of the guitar tone, accompanied with some ungodly awesome soloing. The intensity of the drumming has been driven upward a few notches, the same is true relative to the tempo, and lastly the shortened length of the songs represents another significant change in direction. And as per usual the clean, powerful and majestic vocals of Heri Joensen are as brilliant as ever! At the end of the day, this is tried, tested and true Pagan Power Metal that you will want to blast from your speakers at the highest decibels with your fist held high as if wielding a sword standing ready for battle like a true Viking warrior.

The album springs out of the gate with "Hold The Heathen Hammer High" with its highly infectious chorus, and from this point forward Tyr never take their collective feet off the accelerator, treating fans with a fresh set of songs that contain positively no disposability factor. As alluded to earlier, this is Tyr's best effort since their masterwork Eric The Red. As such, if you are a fan of past works this is a no brainer purchase, and for those who may have been living under a rock looking for an introduction to the Faroese warriors, this along with Eric The Red are the best places to start.